3/4 time

I have been thinking a lot about time lately:

I don't know how it came up in conversation, but my husband happened to mention that when he was a child, his father was responsible for taking him and his two sisters to the grocery store on Saturday mornings. Their absence from the house gave my future mother in law a chance to clean, vacuum, and do whatever else she needed to do. A wonderfully noble gesture, in my opinion.

The part that shocked me was that my husband said that this grocery shopping expedition took three hours. Three hours to take three children to a Safeway located less than a mile from his house! I exclaimed that there was no possible way a simple grocery shopping trip could last three hours. I smugly informed him that time for children generally seems to move slower than for adults and surely he misremembered.

The conversation ended and I thought no more of it until I happened to glance at the clock on our way home from the grocery store today. Our trip to the fruit and vegetable market and grocery store had taken over two hours. Both of which are located within a mile of my house. All we did was attempt to shop for food with two small children. Now, I must eat my words.

I have had to carefully consider time when crafting a stay at home routine for myself and the girls. When at home with two small children, there is no need to rush. Three year olds and newborns cannot be hurried, so why try? (The only thing that can get Bee to do anything even a fraction more quickly than her own predetermined speed is bribery. I try not to resort to it too often. You know, no more than once per hour.) When at work, my day was tightly structured, beginning with my morning tea and greeting my colleagues, checking emails, and then on to business as usual.

I have found that staying home full time (even if for a short time) requires, at least for me, the same sort of routine. At first, I worried that not working would leave me feeling bored and unessential, now I fear I will like this routine more than going to work. So we are running errands in the morning, snuggling and reading stories after nap time, and making a habit of going to the playground. All done very slowly. Three quarters time.

I am learning that time is both ephemeral and endless. The period between 5pm and when my husband arrives home from work, for example, is nearly endless. The first three years of Miss Bee's life, however? Mere seconds. At Christmas, Bee's godfather told me, in a voice full of emotion, "Don't blink. Your children will grow up so quickly. Blink and you'll miss it all." I am doing my best to take his advice and savor these moments.